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Friday, July 31, 2015

It's Kind of a Funny Story book Review

It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini

This book as some seriously good reviews and now I know why. The book is simply written and easy to follow, yet it still has a depth to it that many YA books now a days don't really have.
There's the fast passed love stories; boy meets girl, boy falls for girl, girl falls for boy, etc. There's the ones where the protagonist finds out there's so much more to who they are than what they always believed. The list goes on.It's Kind of a Funny Story has a raw truth to it that many people don't acknowledge. The story follows a young boy, Craig, who recently got into a very prestigious HS that he spent a majority of his 8th grade year trying to get accepted to. However, he soon finds out that the school was probably a huge mistake in his realm of life choices. DEPRESSION. After countless trips to many different Psychologists Craig begins to feel like the Shift my never come. And after an early morning phone call to a suicide hotline, he finds himself in a near by Mental Hospital getting the help he truly needs.
In my opinion the book had so many beautifully raw and heartfelt moments that truly connect the reader to the mindset of the main character. Craig is very relatable in that he has the same struggles and thoughts that so many young teens have at his age. Depression is usually looked at, especially in young teens, as just a phase or a state of mind, but in this book they really get down to the science about it. The protagonist realizes that his 'problem' is a chemical problem and that he can be 'fixed', however he feels like there is just so much weighing him down, and that even when things start to get good there's always something bad just waiting around the corner. The books discusses how there are so many teens on anti-anxiety and anti-depression drugs that you're lucky to find one that isn't. While reading this it brought back memories of friends that I've had that have had to fight such a silent battle.
I love so many of the characters so many of the characters. They all have their own backstory of how they got to be where they are in the book, a testament to all of their own stories. Some have 'run of the mill' depression, while others have deep psychological disorders. However they all find themselves in the same place.
The writing style is very simple to the point where it would be a very reasonable middle grade novel, yet it still has a well thought out and layered story line. Though the descriptive aspects varied is some parts, making certain situations momentarily difficult to grasp or hard to imagine, the important scenes were detailed enough to keep the story moving and still understand what was going happening. There as also a lot of back and forth through the timeline that may have been organized better, however they did work while attached to his personal descriptions on how everything began.
Over all, I would definitely suggest this book, especially to teens and young adults. Its got an entertaining story line and a great message. 4/5